400 Picasso artworks stolen by handyman, claims stepdaughter

More than 400 artworks by Pablo Picasso have been stolen from the home of his stepdaughter, she has claimed, in what appears to be one of the most audacious art thefts of recent times.

Catherine Hutin-Blay, the only daughter of the painter's second wife Jacqueline, believes that as many as 407 works by the Spanish artist were stolen from her home over many months by a former handyman.

The thefts, which she suspects took place between 2005 and 2007, only came to light two years ago when one of the pieces was recognised after it was offered for sale by a Paris gallery.

Ms Hutin-Blay, 65, inherited a vast collection of Picasso's work on the death of her mother in 1986 and still owns the Chateau de Vauvenargues near Aix-en- Provence in the south of France, which Picasso bought in 1958 and where he and his second wife are buried.

The works that Ms Hutin-Blay claims were stolen include sketches, watercolours and sanguines - a red earth technique similar to charcoal favoured by Picasso - and have been conservatively valued collectively at between 1 million euros and 2 million euros.

The works were stored meticulously in filing cabinets. The Picasso Administration, which is run by the artist's heirs including his son Claude Picasso, contacted Ms Hutin-Blay to see if she had sold some of the works after identifying them in a Paris gallery.

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"I went to the filing cabinet to check that the artworks were still there and they were no longer there," Ms Hutin-Blay told the French newspaper Le Parisien. "That is what triggered everything."

A two-year investigation has uncovered a "well-organised plot" to steal hundreds of artworks by Picasso and other contemporary artists including Joan Miro, Wassily Kandinsky and Alberto Giacometti.

It emerged that pieces had also been stolen from Ms Hutin-Blay's neighbour in Vauvenargues, Sylvie Baltazart-Eon, the daughter of Picasso's art dealer Aime Maeght. According to Le Parisien, the most likely culprit is a handyman who carried out odd jobs at the homes of both the women.

"In the beginning I suspected everyone, until I got to [the handyman]," Ms Hutin-Blay said. "He worked for Sylvie when we were neighbours. I never gave (him) a spare key - I didn't trust him, but he worked as a gardener at the house and took advantage of this by getting a key cut for himself."

Police believe as many as 600 artworks were stolen from the two properties. It was unclear whether any arrests have been made, but a police investigation is continuing. So far, 22 of the works have been recovered.

"The art theft squad have been charming and they know a lot about art," Ms Hutin-Blay told Le Parisien. "I'm lucky in that I photographed everything before the thefts but I fear they may have been sold abroad."

In 2010, a collection of 271 artworks by Picasso, many of them previously unknown were discovered at the home of Pierre Le Guennec, a retired electrician who had once worked for the artist.

He claimed the collection, which is valued at more than 40 million euros, was given to him by Picasso in gratitude for work done installing an alarm system at the artist's home shortly before his death in 1973. The Picasso family launched a legal action disputing the claims that the artist would make such a gift.